New Delhi, Oct. 1 -- Superlatives reigned as US President Donald Trump declared that Essar Group's Mesabi Metallics would invest $15 billion to set up a steel-making unit in Iowa. With a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes, potentially going up to 10 million, it would be "the largest steel plant in American history," he said, churning out "some of the highest quality, most affordable steel anywhere in the world."

This is an attempt to revive an old project involving an Essar acquisition in iron-ore-rich Minnesota that went bust in 2016, shortly before the Group's Indian steel operations did. Essar Steel India Ltd, which went into insolvency in 2017, was among a 'dirty dozen' insolvent firms identified by India's central bank for priority reso...